NASA chief is poised to leave

WASHINGTON — NASA chief Sean O'Keefe is expected to resign from the space agency this week.

O'Keefe, who has been administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for almost three years, is the top choice for chancellor of Louisiana State University and has agreed to be a formal candidate, according to a spokesman for the school.

O'Keefe's departure would close the book on a period of tragedy and transition for the agency, marked by budget-cutting, the 2003 Columbia space shuttle disaster, investigations and ambitious plans to send astronauts back to the moon and eventually to Mars.

A White House spokesman would not comment Sunday. But U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) said it is his understanding that the agency head does plan to leave, although he had not spoken with O'Keefe.

Weldon, whose district abuts Kennedy Space Center, said conversations with his staff led him to believe that O'Keefe "is taking the job at LSU."

Charles Zewe, a spokesman for the LSU board of supervisors, said Saturday that interim Chancellor William Jenkins and others have been recruiting O'Keefe for the job, which essentially is the chief executive of the university.

Zewe said O'Keefe and Jenkins have spoken by phone, adding that O'Keefe told him Saturday that he had agreed to be a formal candidate for the job.